This Is Just A Dream
by ShesInLoveWithTheBoy
Summary: They sent him away to the military, But he never came back. For years, she refused to believe it was real. Based off of the song 'Just A Dream' By Carrie Underwood Two-Shot
1. Just A Dream

_It was two weeks after the day she turned eighteen  
All dressed in white  
Going to the church that night  
She had his box of letters in the passenger seat  
Sixpence in a shoe, something barrowed, something blue  
And when the church doors opened up wide  
She put her veil down  
Trying to hide the tears  
Oh she just couldn't believe it  
She heard trumpets from the military band  
And the flowers fell out of her hand_

_Baby why'd you leave me  
Why'd you have to go?  
I was counting on forever, now I'll never know  
I can't even breathe  
It's like I'm looking from a distance  
Standing in the background  
Everybody's saying, he's not coming home now  
This can't be happening to me  
This is just a dream_

_The preacher man said let us bow our heads and pray  
Lord please lift his soul, and heal this hurt  
Then the congregation all stood up and sang the saddest song that she ever heard  
Then they handed her a folded up flag  
And she held on to all she had left of him  
Oh, and what could have been  
And then the guards rang one last shot  
And it felt like a bullet in her heart_

_Baby why'd you leave me  
Why'd you have to go?  
I was counting on forever, now I'll never know  
I can't even breathe  
It's like I'm looking from a distance  
Standing in the background  
Everybody's saying, he's not coming home now  
This can't be happening to me  
This is just a dream_

_Oh,  
Baby why'd you leave me  
Why'd you have to go?  
I was counting on forever, now I'll never know  
Oh, now I'll never know  
It's like I'm looking from a distance  
Standing in the background  
Everybody's saying, he's not coming home now  
This can't be happening to me  
This is just a dream_

_Oh, this is just a dream  
Just a dream  
Yeah, Yeah_


	2. Just A Dream,

**Based off of the song 'Just A Dream' By Carrie Underwood, Amazing song, it makes me cry every time :(**

**I don't own Life With Derek, Or Carrie Underwood, Or the song 'Just A Dream'.**

She was always thought that every story had a happy ending. All the fairytale books she read when she was little, all of her mother's old stories, and her giant imagination, all had happy endings, So, she was convinced that the story of 'them' would end happily, but what she got was far from happiness.

**-- -- -- -- -- --**

They were step-siblings, their parents were outraged. You cannot fall in love with a family member, they didn't care if they shared blood or not, they weren't allowing it.

Their rules were strict, and made clear. They were not to even go near each other, and if they broke the rules even slightly, he was off to military school.

And, with a key to his locked bed room door, his father walked in on the biggest mistake of his life, and three weeks later, he was on the bus to military school.

She was heart broken, and he felt the same, but, he didn't mind it so much at the school. It whipped him into shape, and as much as his parents wanted him to hate it, he actually found it pretty cool. It made him feel important, and strong, feelings that somebody like Derek value most in life.

He was 18 when he decided that he was going away to the army.

"Did you even think of me when you signed up for this!?" She screamed through the saddest tears shes ever cried. She threw her arms in the air, and brought them back down with a punch into his bedroom wall.

"I'm sorry." He whispered. It was all he could say, he was leaving in a month, and wouldn't be back for eight.

It was the greatest pain she has ever felt. Not just because she was losing him again, but, God forbid if he could was killed in the army, she would never forgive herself for letting him go. "Do you know how dangerous it is out there, Derek!?" She screamed even louder.

He just kinda of stood there, with no emotion but sorrow and regret. He probably should have thought this out a lot more than he did. Casey was right, he didn't think of her, and he wished he had.

Their parents listened from all the way down stairs in the dinning room. Every once in a while they would hear a hard thump, but figured it was just Casey either throwing something, or punching the wall with every bit of muscle inside of her. Nora let her head fall into her hands and let the tears hit the table, George refused to move, or show any sign that he was scared for his son, or show guilt. He couldn't help but blame himself for this.

**-- -- -- -- -- -- --**

"I just wanted to be with you." She whispered as she fell back onto the bed. He slowly walked over to it, and sat down next to her. He wanted to wrap his arms around her so bad, but, they were shaking to much to move.

"We will be, I promise. I'm coming home in eight months, and then we will have forever... I promise." He whispered, holding his eyes shut tight and trying his hardest not to cry.

"No we wont," Casey started, angry again. "You'll come back, and tell me that you met somebody ten hundred times prettier than me, and you wont want to be together anymore." She cried into the pillow.

He didn't care how bad his arms were shaking anymore, they were now around her, which is where he always wanted them to be.

"No! Casey! I promise! Listen, when I come home, it will be 2 weeks after your birthday," Derek started, but Casey just looked up at him confused.

"Your 18th birthday, which means that you would be old enough to get married." He whispered into her ear, smiling for the first time tonight.

She felt something in her heart telling her that she wanted to do this, and to go along with it. "So, we can get married?" She asked quietly, she liked the idea so much, it was the best thing shes ever even thought about.

"If you want." He smiled.

"Of course I want to!" She yelled, wrapping her arms around him, he sure knew what to do when he was in trouble.

**-- -- -- -- -- -- --**

Eight months went by a lot faster then she thought. Maybe it was all the letters he wrote her, and all the wedding planing that was keeping her busy. But, there were some night when she would worry about him, and want to just hear his voice.

She looked into the long mirror, and admired her beautiful gown. It was everything she hoped it would be when she got married. It was strapless, and trailed long behind her, and her hair was pined up into beautiful long curls. This was it, it was the moment that would change her life, this was supposed to be her happy ending, that part in the fairytale where everybody smiles as says 'awwww', or the part where people cry the happy tears that they've been holding in while he was away.

He was coming home today. In only a few hours. This was it, she was getting married tonight.

She was in her bedroom, they were only getting married in the backyard, but it was set up beautifully, and honestly, she didn't care where they did it, as long as they did it.

She was so excited, words couldn't tell you the joy she felt deep inside of her heart. She feared that she would run down the aisle as soon as she sees him, instead of walking slowly and gracefully. Nobody saw the dress yet, which meant she was going to wow everybody. She was the only one who has seen it so far.

But, she never thought she would be the last one to see it, too.

Her cell phone rang. On the small night stand next to her bed.She picked up the phone and noticed that it was a number she's never seen before. She curiously flipped it open and put it up to her ear. "Hello?" She asked quietly.

"Hello, is this Miss, Casey McDonald?" The man sounded stern, but hurt, it was almost impossible to describe. Casey was so confused, it almost made her scared.

"Yes, it is? Can I ask who's calling?" She sat down on the bed, and tucked the dress neatly underneath her, and pushed the veil out of her face.

"My name is Sargent Robertson," Casey's heart skipped a beat, she knew right away it was something about Derek, and by the sound of the man's tone, it wasn't good news.

"Yes?" She asked, already starting to cry. She knew what the news was, she knew what he was going to say, she knew exactly how he was going to say it, and she knew that she didn't want to hear, or believe, it.

"I'm sorry, Casey." Was all he said, and that's all it took.

She immediately moved the phone away from her ear and slammed it shut, she jumped to her feet, and tried her hardest to breathe. "No! No! No!" Each 'no' got louder and louder, and the tears came faster and faster.

"This isn't real! Its a dream! Its just a dream! This isnt happening to me!" She screamed through tears as she hit the floor, and the beautiful dress laid neatly around her. She put her head in her hands and told herself to wake up at least 20 times.

But when it didn't work, she ripped the veil off of her head and threw it onto the floor as the make-up ran off of her face. She let out a final scream, louder then she has ever screamed in her life. She felt as if she was going to die. She felt like any second, she would get too hyped up, and just fall over, and never wake up. But, right now, that didn't seem too bad to her.

She heard footsteps running up the stairs and down the hall way. Soon, her mother and sister were standing, beyond confused, in the doorway.

"Casey!?" Nora ran over to her and put an arm around her skinny and cold shoulders. "What is wrong!? Honey, what happened!?" Nora rocked her back and fourth on the floor, trying so hard to clam her down, but she just kept sobbing and screaming, and trying to push her mother away.

"NOTHING! NOTHING HAPPENED!" She cried harder and jumped to her feet, the beautiful wedding dress flowing as she stood up. "Its just a dream! Nothing happened!" She cried. She finally collapsed into her mothers arms and cried onto her shoulder.

"Hes not comin' home, mommy." She cried in a whisper.

**-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --**

When she did walk down the aisle, 3 weeks later, she wasn't wearing the beautiful white dress. She was wearing an ugly black one that she was talked into wearing by her mother.

She walked down, and instead of the picture she had burned into her mind, of him standing there in his army uniform, and looking so grown and handsome, there was only a coffin, with a flag laid over it.

Everybody watched as she walked down the aisle, they slowly turned, and tried to hide their pain, but Casey didn't care about showing hers, they all knew how bad she was hurting, she didn't care if they saw it or not.

They were shocked that she showed up today. She had been refusing to come all week, in fact, she had been refusing to believe this was real all week.

The make-up was once again rolling off of her cheeks, but she was too weak to even reach up and brush the tears way. She slowly made her way to the chair next to her family.

"Let us bow our heads and pray, Lord please lift his soul, and heal this hurt" The preacher said to all of his old friends and family. Casey took a good look around the church, and noticed all the soldiers... Crying. They looked so strong, but they looked so weak. It reminded her of herself.

They played the saddest song she's ever heard. This wasn't like Derek. All the sadness. Derek was a happy person, this didn't fit him at all.

She wasn't paying attention to what was going on, or who was speaking. She was focused on the coffin which held what used to be the love of her life, everything she lived for, everything that made her believe in love, everything that made her stop and think about how truly unfair life really is. It held him.

"He was the youngest, strongest and cockiest solider I knew." The solider standing at the podium said. "He was so brave, more brave than most of the man for have been doing this for most of their lives. He wasn't scared of anything..." The solider whipped the tears from his eyes and looked at Casey. "Except for one thing... Losing her." He said. All the heads turned to Casey, as another tears rolled down her face.

Her blue eyes were the saddest thing in the room, and her heart was the most broken thing in there. "He loved you so much, Casey. He would tell us stories everyday about the littlest things about you that he liked the most, and what ever spare time he had after fighting, or telling us the stories, he was writing to you." The man took a deep breath and made a sad attempt at a smile. "He was get so happy when he read one of your letters back. He would have a smile on his face the whole time," The guy wasn't finished, but she didn't care, she couldn't hear anymore.

She quickly got out of her seat, and ran back down the aisle. It was too much, too much to bear, the pain she felt inside was killing her. As she ran outside, she noticed how bad it was raining, but she didn't care about that either, she ran right into it, and fell to the hard and cold concrete.

**-- -- -- -- -- -- --**

13 years later she sat in front of the grave stone. She traced over his name with her small, manicured fingers as she heard her child running around in the background.

"Hey! Get over here!" She scowled. He slowly walked over to her and bent down next to her. "Could you at least have a little respect!?" She asked, gently hitting him on the shoulder.

"Sor-ry." He said, obviously bored. This wasn't the way he planned on spending his Friday afternoon.

"Look, this means a lot to me. I've never even been here before." Casey said, taking a deep breath.

"He died thirteen years ago, and you're doing this now?"

Casey sighed and rolled her eyes. "I never really wanted to face the truth." She said, letting her hand fall to her side. "I always kinda wished it was just a dream." She said, remember all of the old memories of him.

"Wow." Her son whispered, kinda of touched that her mother would open up so much to him.

"I miss you, Derek." She whispered to the stone.

"Hey, that's my name..." Her son said, with a small smile of proud-ness.

"I always told you that you were named after your father..." Casey said, creating a smile of her own.


End file.
